Leaning against the wall of a prison, part of Enrico's clothes at the front were torn, and blood was dripping from his mouth and nose. He was in a defensive position, arms covering his face as he endured a flurry of punches.
He didn't know how long he had been in that place, since he only started focusing on survival after fighting until his mana ran out. He had to lean against the wall just to stay on his feet.
'How much time has passed? I think my body is reaching its limit.'
[It's been sixteen hours, and you haven't slept at all during this time. Even your excitement for this training has faded. Wouldn't it be better to ask to stop?]
'Don't even think about it, that lunatic would do something worse if that happened… wait, maybe it wouldn't be so bad to give up, hehehe.'
[Damn, he's out of his mind. What do I do? I can't interfere for another three years as punishment for my interference.]
Enrico's eyes were starting to grow dull, but it was impossible for it to be a limit break, since, according to what he had said, that wouldn't happen again until the end of the year.
[He's about to pass out. Maybe that's better, maybe this lunatic will stop… but is that really what he'll do? And besides, a worse training? No way.]
Deciding what to do, she went for something that could wake him up—since it wasn't interference like with Titanza, it would be fine.
[ENRICO, THE END OF THE WORLD HAS COME!]
Immediately, Enrico ducked and threw three punches, managing to push them back. Breathing heavily, he seemed to realize everything was fine. That was, without a doubt, the one thing he cared about the most—whenever he thought of it, he put pressure on himself.
'Thanks for waking me up.'
[Thank me when you manage to complete this idiotic training.]
With no mana left, Enrico focused completely, leaning against the wall. He would have to make the minimum possible movements.
'Good thing I came into a prison.'
Thanks to that, he might be surrounded, but only by a few creatures. Placing his hands in front, this time he didn't think about striking but only defending and deflecting. When the first blow came, he simply redirected it with his palm.
A second attack came from the right, so he used the creature whose strike he deflected to block in front of him. With a kick, he pushed them away. A third, fourth, and fifth were in front of him, so he grabbed the red bars of the prison door, which had been destroyed by several attacks when he had tried to close it and rest inside.
Standing, he unbalanced the three and, with force, shoved all five out of the prison, holding tightly to the bars as the creatures tried to push them down again. But this time, Enrico was much stronger than before.
[You managed to adapt to them, but it seems they're also thinking as they try to strike your fingers.]
The system was right—the creatures were using their claws to cut his hands, which were already deeply slashed. So he pulled his hands away and pressed his arms against the bars instead, letting them cut into his arms while keeping his body further back to avoid receiving too many hits, since the creatures' arms weren't that long. Even so, they kept trying to strike him.
'I just need to recover my mana.'
[You'll need to endure at least thirty minutes for it to fully recover.]
'…only thirty? That's easy.'
[Idiot.]
In the next room, Matteo was watching everything with gleaming eyes. He had done similar training with Valerio and Platina, and both lasted at most fourteen hours, with Valerio enduring two minutes more than her.
'He has a stronger mind than theirs. This is good, very good.'
If Enrico managed to complete today's training, Matteo wouldn't need to test Taíra when she reached circle two, because his decision on who to force to evolve would already be made.
'Before putting that plan into action, he has to be a level above the others.'
"Your son is quite good. He's grown a lot since the last time I saw him."
"What do you mean? You've already met him?"
Beside him, a shadow sat cross-legged, watching. This being was the demon he had contracted with not long ago.
"You could say so. When he was overweight."
"When?"
"It was during a time when I was interested in a boy named Chalés, but we can say your son eliminated him. A real shame, that boy had potential…"
This could be both bad and good, since this demon could be extremely vengeful if provoked.
"And what do you plan to do with him?"
"Actually, I've become very interested—more than I was in Chalés. It made me want to make a contract with him, but he always has that maid watching him from afar. So I left him for later, temporarily."
'That's good. I don't want this potential for my plan to die.'
The shadow drew closer to the image, revealing a feminine figure with purple hair and pale skin, black cracks spreading all over her body.
"I really am interested in him, so let's see what he's capable of in this family's training. Besides, I feel that his physical aspects are better than anyone I've ever seen, especially at this circle."
"His body?"
"Yes. Perhaps he'll be able to satisfy me in the future."
"I almost forgot how you are."
The demon before him was Lilith, the queen of succubi and the Sin of Lust, one of the Seven Demon Kings—just beneath the title of Satan.
"Well, let's keep watching."
It wasn't the time for such nonsense. What mattered to Matteo was seeing whether Enrico could complete his plan of raising the Solcren to the next level.